Harlow Niles Higinbotham : a memoir with brief autobiography and extracts from speeches and letters

mm

B'A,RLOW NILES HIGINBOTHAM

m

LAWRENCE J. GUTTER

Collection of Chicogoono

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
AT CHICAGO

The University Library

HARLOWr NILES HIGINBOTHAM

Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive

in 2010 witli funding from

CARLI: Consortium of Academic and Researcli Libraries in Illinois

http://www.archive.org/details/harlownileshiginOOmonr

y^^WS^??^^^

HARLOW NILES HIGINBOTHAM

A MEMOIR

with Brief Autobiography and Extracts

from
Speeches and Letters

Written and Edited
by Harriet Monroe

CHICAGO
1920

CONTENTS

Page

Biography 9

Appendix A

Lincoln in 1864 49

Appendix B

The power of personality 53

Appendix C

The man who did me a good turn 57

Appendix D

An inscription in a copy of "Echoes from the Sabine
Farm" 61

HARLOW NILES HIGINBOTHAM

HARLOW NILES HIGINBOTHAM

Harlow Niles Higinbotham, represented, to a singular
degree, the best citizenship of the second and third half-
centuries of the Republic. Born on an Illinois farm
October tenth, 1838; educated in his native state;
serving as a volunteer soldier through the Civil War;
employed by a small dry- goods house and working for
it loyally and with perfect integrity until it had become
one of the greatest merchandising firms in the world,
and he one of its most active partners ; responding with
ardor to every public call, whether it came from a
newsboys' and bootblacks' club or from the World's
Columbian Exposition; retiring from business at sixty
or more, and giving his later years, with beautiful devo-
tion, to his family and his favorite charities and public
works; and dying at eighty in full career and with fac-
ulties unimpaired; such a life epitomizes the strength and
character of the nation during its robust and adventurous
formative period.

The story of his earlier years may be outlined in
Mr. Higinbotham's own words; for a rough manu-
script, autobiographical but written in the third

person, was found among his papers after his sudden
death. It begins as follows:

"Harlow Niles Higinbotham was born on a farm
near Joliet, Illinois, October tenth, 1838. His father
was Henry Dumont Higinbotham, who was born on
January tenth, 1806, and died in 1865. His mother
was Rebecca Wheeler Higinbotham. Both were bom
in Oneida County, New York. They moved to a farm
in the Township of Joliet, Illinois, in 1834. The Higin-
botham family came originally from Holland, removing
thence to England, thence to the Babados Islands
and from there to the United States.

"The farm, upon which Henry Dumont Higinbotham
settled, was made up of lands purchased from the
Government by him and not previously under cultiva-
tion. It is still in possession of the family, enlarged
by purchases and inheritance from the late Mrs. Harlow
N. Higinbotham's estate; her son, Harlow Davison
Higinbotham, being the present owner and resident.
For years a beautiful feature of it has been the carnation
greenhouses — for the subject of this memoir made that
flower his special hobby, and propagated many new
varieties.

"Henry Dumont Higinbotham built and operated
saw-mills with water-power furnished by Hickory Creek,
a stream that runs through the farm. In the early
days farmers for many miles brought their wheat and
corn there to be ground, and his compensation was a
percentage of the grain brought, called toll. This he
ground, and sold as flour and meal. He also kept
cattle and hogs that were fattened by feeding at or

10

near the mill, the tailings being used in part for that
purpose. Being one of the early settlers in that sec-
tion, he was looked upon with reverence by his neigh-
bors, and was always called 'Uncle Henry* and his wife
'Aunt Rebecca.'

"When Harlow N. Higinbotham was a small boy the
farther fence of his father's farm was the last evidence
of civilization in that direction. In later years he used
to say: *I remember going with my father when he
went out to erect a flag-pole in the middle of the prairie
as a preliminary for a wolf-hunt that was held at least
once each year. On a given morning all the settlers
would start on horseback, with dogs and guns and
horns, from the outer edge of a circle having a radius
of ten or more miles, and work towards the center,
where the flag-pole had been erected. In this way wild
animals would be driven into a pocket, surrounded and
killed. This was made necessary to protect the sheep,
swine and poultry of the settlers. I have seen wolves
kill our sheep in our own fields.' "

In one of his addresses is another reference to his
early life :

''Our fathers were pioneers on the prairies of Illinois.
There we early learned the lessons of Nature, and recog-
nized and loved the message that the recurring seasons
had for us. The flowers of the field and the forest were
our companions, and we knew when and where to look
for them; we knew the habit and habitat of each, and
they were an open book to us. We knew the birds, and
were not long in discovering that by their flight and their
notes we could tell the season, and almost the hour of

11

the day. When we heard in the field the love-note of
the pinnated grouse, or in the woods heard the drum-
ming of his rufted cousin on the logs, we knew it was
time to plough and plant. An approaching storm was
announced with certainty by the coming of the quail
from his seclusion in the thicket to a position where
he could make his message heard. The crooning of the
cricket, and the call of the katydid, each had a meaning
and message that we understood. These constituted
the catechism from which we learned to believe in
Deity, and the larger and diviner life for man."

To return to the autobiography:

**The farm was about three miles east of the village
of Joliet, and the early schools were the ordinary district
schools with one teacher for a few months in each year.
In winter they used to have spelling contests every week
in one of the three schools located at three points of a
triangle named Jericho, Babylon, and Bagdad. Harlow
had the distinction of being the champion speller when
he was so small that he had to stand on a box to be as
high as the others in the class.

**In order to give his children a better school, Henry
Dumont Higinbotham built a house in the village of
Joliet about 1855 and moved there. This was his home
until his death in 1865.

"In 1857 the nineteen-year-old youth accepted a
position as bookkeeper and teller in a bank in Joliet,
after which he was cashier of the Bank of Oconto, at
Oconto, Wisconsin. In 1860 he became entry clerk,
bookkeeper and cashier for Cooley, Farwell 6b Company,
wholesale dry-goods dealers in Chicago, a city he had

12

first discovered long before from the top of a load of
hay which he had brought there to sell as a boy. In
1862 he left Chicago to go to the Civil War.

"He first enlisted in the Mercantile Battery, but was
rejected on account of poor health. Then he obtained
a position as clerk in the Quartermaster's Department,
and went to Clarksburg, West Virginia. His service
there being much in the open and on horseback, his
health was restored. While there he organized a com-
pany of infantry, as a guard to protect Clarksburg as
a base for supplies for the United States army, which
was always in the mountains, frequently leaving its
base unprotected. He was captain of this company,
which was called the Kelley Guards, General Kelley
then being in command of the department. While in
Chicago Mr. Higinbotham had belonged to the old
Zouaves, and had been drilled in the manual of arms
and company formation and tactics. The Government
supplied the Kelley Guards with arms and ammunition,
and their presence perhaps prevented raids that might
have been made. The company was made up of men
employed in the Quartermaster's and Commissary
departments.

*'In 1863 and 1864 Higinbotham served in like capacity
in Kentucky and Tennessee, and concluded his service
at Hagerstown, Maryland, at the close of the war.

"Returning to Chicago in 1865, he engaged as book-
keeper with the new firm just commencing business as
Field, Palmer 8b Leiter. This firm changed in 1867 to
Field, Leiter 8b Co., and a few years later to the present
firm of Marshall Field 8b Co. Mr. Higinbotham was

13

a member of that firm and remained in that business
until he retired in 1902. In his later years he was the
only original member of that firm still living."

On December seventh, 1865, occurred his marriage
to Miss Rachel Davison, of Joliet. Her mother was
Priscilla Moore, whose ancestors were of Scotch descent,
and came to this country in 1723, settling in London-
derry, N. H. The two had been acquainted since
childhood, their fathers' farms being side by side.
They attended the same school, and later, when Rachel
Davison was the belle of Joliet, their friendship grew
and culminated in their marriage. Six children — ^two
sons and four daughters — ^were born of this union.
Two of the daughters died in infancy. The four sur-
viving are Harlow Davison Higinbotham, Henry Morti-
mer Higinbotham, Florence, wife of Richard T. Crane,
Jr., and Alice, wife of Joseph Medill Patterson.

During the presidential campaign of 1864, when a
large parade was to be held in Joliet in honor of Mc-
Clellan and Pendleton, the democratic candidates,
Rachel Davison had been selected to head it because
of her great beauty and fine horsemanship; and this
beauty remained with her until her death on June
twenty-fifth, 1909.

Although modest and shy, Mrs. Higinbotham was a
strong personality. She cared little for social life, never
seeking conspicuous position, her home and children
being always uppermost in her thoughts. Her sense of
duty, and her thrift when a young matron, aided her
husband to attain an influential position in the com-
munity. She exerted a strong influence, and during

^14

their life together was companion, adviser, and assistant
in large business undertakings and in philanthropic
work. Like him, she was always kind, and always
mindful of those in need.

During the World's Fair, her gracious hospitality
made their home the centre of Chicago's social life.
Their house on Michigan Avenue, designed in early
French renaissance by F. Meredith Whitehouse, was a
charming setting for the many entertainments given for
distinguished visitors.

We now return to Mr. Higinbotham's narrative:

**At the time of the Chicago fire on October ninth,
1871, Higinbotham was in charge of the Insurance and
Accounting Department of the business of Field, Leiter
& Co., and was only an employe of the firm. Without
waiting for instructions, he went to their barns and
called out all the drivers with their teams; and he and
they went at once to the store and commenced carting
away the most valuable goods to a point south of the
fire limit or belt. They continued this all night, and
at the same time, by changing blankets in the windows
and keeping them wet, they kept off the fire until it
had passed them on the opposite side of State Street,
gone north a mile or more and burned the city water-
works. This occurred at about seven in the morning
of October tenth, Higinbotham's thirty-third birthday.

"With their water supply thus cut off, they were
helpless and had to abandon the store and its contents
to the fire that slowly backed up from the north and
drove them out. A later inventory showed that they
had saved a little over six hundred thousand dollars*

15

worth of goods, their proofs of loss showed that a little
over two million and a half had been burned, and their
insurance amounted to nineteen hundred thousand
dollars. This would indicate a loss of six hundred
thousand dollars. It was, however, much greater for
the reason that many of the insurance companies were
imable to pay their obligations, a number not more
than ten cents on the dollar. A portion of the saved
goods were in the car bams at Twentieth and State
Streets, some in a wooden church at Thirty-second
Street and South Park Avenue. Higinbotham's home
was then on Prairie Avenue near Twenty-seventh
Street.

"Higinbotham went from the fire directly to Mr.
Leiter's home, and told him of a plan he had formed for
the re-establishment of the business. Mr. Leiter threw
up both hands and exclaimed, *Oh, Higinbotham! It
is too early to make plans — Chicago is gone!' Mr.
Higinbotham replied, *No, no — ^we have got to do
these things anyway.' His plan was for Mr. Field to
give his attention to finding a place wherein to re-
establish the business; Mr. Leiter was to take charge
of the saved goods, and have them inventoried so that
the inventory would show the contents of each case.
Higinbotham had in mind the adjusting of the loss, as
that was one of the first essentials. Mr. Willing, a
junior partner, was to go to Valparaiso, Indiana, stop
all goods coming from the east, and warehouse and
insure them until the Company was ready to have them
sent in. Mr. Higinbotham was to take his family and
Mr. Leiter's, and all the bookkeepers and books of

16

account, cash and valuable papers, and go at once to
Joliet and there remain until a place had been arranged
for at least an office in the city. This plan, which was
formulated while he was saving the goods, was carried
out in every particular. In Joliet the office of Field,
Leiter & Co. was for two weeks in his mother's house,
and she took care of a number of the bookkeepers during
their stay. He then went with his wife and baby to
Cincinnati, St. Louis and San Francisco to adjust and
collect insurance. A number of the companies in these
cities having no agencies in Chicago had failed. It was
his business to ascertain how much their assets would
pay, collect the money and return as quickly as possible.

"The business was soon re-established, and went
through that year with a net profit of over three hundred
thousand dollars, notwithstanding that two and a half
millions had been burned up in a single night. It was
then that Mr. Leiter said, *Higinbotham, we are going
to give you an interest in this business!' meaning, of
course, a share in the profits. Later he was made a
partner and remained in the firm until 1902."

Unfortunately, Mr. Higinbotham's sudden death pre-
vented his completing this autobiographical sketch with
any fulness of detail. We have merely a few rough
notes — ^two or three typewritten pages — in regard to
his public activities, of which his work for the World's
Columbian Exposition was the most important.

From the first he was an enthusiast in this movement
for a fit celebration of the great quadri-centennial
anniversary, and for the location of the world festival
in Chicago. As he said years after, at a banquet to a

17

group of Japanese commissioners, who were promoting
a proposed exposition in Tokio: "In the years pre-
ceding our Columbian festival, peace reigned throughout
the world. It was an opportune time for the assembling
of the animate and inanimate parliaments, a time for
the world to pause, take account of stock, to note
progress in all the things that make for peace and
himianity's good; a time for the exchange of greetings
between the peoples and the nations of the earth. You
will all remember with what zeal Chicago entered into
competition for the honor of being the host on that
occasion. You will also remember the satisfaction and
pride that filled our hearts when we had won the dis-
tinguished honor, and the heroic efforts we put forth to
fulfil our pledge. To the older civilizations of the world
it seemed presumptuous that a new city in a far country
should appear in such a role. Our nearer neighbors
predicted failure, and this stimulated us to greater
effort; with a result that it is not even necessary to refer
to, except in so far as to show its beneficent influence
and substantial value to the world."

And this further extract from the address shows that
his motive was not merely local, that his vision embraced
a world-wide ideal of humane values involved in these
great festivals of peace:

"The International Exposition, where the richest and
rarest products meet in friendly competition, where the
ripest wisdom of the ages is represented by the scholars
and thinkers of all the world, cannot but result in great
and lasting good and in promoting peace and good will.

18

"The Exposition stands at the meeting of the world's
highways, where gather the nations of the earth, bur-
dened each with the evidences of its newest and noblest
achievements. It is an epitome of the world's progress,
a history and a prophecy.

"The latest discoveries, the newest inventions, the
triumphs in art, in science, in education, in the solution
of social and even of religious problems, are here
arrayed; whatever testifies to the industry, the skill, the
creative and almost divine power of human thought
when stimulated to its most earnest endeavors.

"The more we share with others the good we possess,
the more shall they share with us the things and thoughts
that make for peace with them. The more we all
strive for the common good, the nearer we shall attain
to universal brotherhood."

Thus inspired, he was deeply engaged in the enter-
prise from the first. In 1890 he had much to do with
securing from Congress the honor of holding the Expo-
sition in Chicago. After it was so decided, he was
commissioned to go abroad to promote interest in the
Fair — was a director and a member of important
committees — Finance, Ways and Means, Foreign Ex-
hibits; and later, in August, 1892, was made President
of the Directory and Chairman of the Council of Ad-
ministration, a body of four, chosen half from the
Directory and half from the National Commission
created by Congress. This Council was clothed with
the full power of all other bodies and committees, and
charged with the completion and administration of the
Exposition at a time when the treasury was empty and

19

the enterprise was thought to be a failure. During that
summer Mr. Marshall Field, Mr. Higinbotham's partner
and head of the firm, was absent in Germany; and he
withheld his consent to Mr. Higinbotham's accepting
the Presidency, because he felt that the probable failure
of the enterprise would reflect on their business. To
convince him, Mr. Higinbotham wrote him the exact
status of the Fair, what he thought he could do with it
if Mr. Field would consent, and his reluctance to refuse
his services at a time of crisis.

In regard to this, Mr. Higinbotham has stated: **I
remember saying that he would not be glad he lived
in Chicago if the Fair was a failure, and his property
would not be worth half as much. I also wrote him
how many people would attend the Fair and how much
we would receive from concessions, estimating about as
follows :

Admissions, 22,000,000 $11,000,000

Concessions 4,000,000

Residuum, Building Material, etc 1,000,000

$16,000,000
"Then I wrote him that it would cost to
complete and administer the Fair 9,000,000

and we would have $7,000,000
to pay back to bondholders and stockholders. These
were arguments that he could understand when far
away, and he cabled me, 'All right, go ahead.' I did,
and we made the prognosis good and a little more. I
wish I had time, space and patience to tell you how I

20

based my estimates for attendance, and then tell you
how hard I worked to make it all come true. The
other members of the Council of Administration agreed
at the first meeting to stand by and support me all the
time and always. This they did, with the result that
at the conclusion, with six thousand written pages, we
did not have a single negative vote recorded in the
minutes of our meetings. The members of the Council
of Administration, besides the Chairman, were: George
V. Massey of Dover, Delaware; J. W. St. Clair of West
Virginia and Charles H. Schwab of Chicago."

Mr. Massey, the only surviving one of the four,
corroborates this assertion of harmony, and adds the
following appreciation of his dead colleague's services:

"As one of his associates in the Council, I was af-
forded exceptional opportunity to become acquainted
with his wonderful capacity for effective work along the
most judicious and practical lines; and the knowledge
of his envied characteristics, thereby derived, warrants
the statement that the successful results of the Exhibi-
tion were more largely attributable to his untiring and
energetic efforts than to any other official related to the
undertaking."

The year or two covered by those six thousand pages
of minutes was a period of dramatic intensity for the
man at the head of the vast enterprise. The local
Board of Directors, composed of Chicago business men,
was the great working body which organized, paid for,
and ran the Fair, the National Commission being a
more or less ornamental consort appointed by the
Government to give the Exposition authority and

21

dignity in the eyes of the invited nations. When Mr.
Higinbotham, on August eighteenth, 1892, accepted the
presidency of the Directory, after the successive resig-
nations of Lyman J. Gage and William T. Baker, the
early local enthusiasm had given way to despondency,
for the impression had gathered force that soaring
expenses could never be met even to the extent of
repaying the bonded indebtedness, not to speak of
the stockholders.

As president of the Board of Directors, Chairman
of the Council of Administration, and member of the
Bureau of Admissions and Collections, Mr. Higin-
botham held three offices, each involving "heavy re-
sponsibilities which could not be delegated, resting upon
powers which were ill-defined, yet were co-extensive
with the purposes of the company's incorporation."
For over two years these duties required his entire
time — often from twelve to sixteen hours out of the
twenty-four — and more than a man's due share of
physical and mental energy.

The story is told with outward completeness in the
"Report of the President to the Board of Directors of
the World's Columbian Exposition," a volume of 323
octavo pages (exclusive of appendices) written in that
clear, concise and vivid narrative style which was always
at Mr. Higinbotham's command. Outward complete-
ness only, for one must read between the lines of any
formal report to discover the heart-story involved; and
in this case, as in all Mr. Higinbotham's activities, the
heart-story was the central motive.

22

He undertook this public service from the purest
instinct of civic pride and loyalty — love of his city and
state, pride in the great festival and delight in the ideal
involved — its consummation of democracy in beauty
representing the union of many creative wills. The
Exposition was the first effort of our American democ-
racy to achieve, in any large sense, such a consummation.
Thus, to any man of vision, it was prophetic of a new
era, and worthy of all that the individual could give.
Mr. Higinbotham's gift was an indomitable will and a
mind trained to finance, knowledge of men, quick
decision of difficult problems, and unfailing resource in
initiative.

One cannot tell the whole long story here, but a few
characteristic incidents may be referred to. The elec-
tric light contest, for example, illustrates Mr. Higin-
botham's skill and patience in handling would-be
profiteers — for public spirit among contractors was not
the universal rule. At this time, the spring of 1892, he
was vice-president of the Board of Directors, but acting
as president in Mr. Baker's absence. Powerful companies
in collusion presented bids averaging $18.00 per in-
candescent lamp for the six months the Fair was to
endure; but by playing other companies against them,
and refusing to be stampeded into immediate action,
he gradually reduced this bid to $5.95 per lamp, and
finally gave the contract to another company at a still
lower figure. In the end the sum paid for the entire
service was $399,000, as against the $1,675,720, originally
demanded.

23

Indeed the financial history of the Fair was one long
series of contests and anxieties for its president. Again
and again the enterprise would have failed for lack of
funds if the situation had been less skilfully handled;
and although failure would have meant national dis-
honor, the Congress at Washington did not show any
proper sense of partnership in a great national festival
which was to cost over twenty-eight millions. Instead
of the five millions which had been listed for eight
months in the appropriation bill and counted upon with
reasonable assurance, the government at last, during
the hot summer of 1892, compromised on two millions
and a half in souvenir coins of uncertain sale; and
afterwards, at a moment of imminent financial crisis,
it withheld more than a fifth of that sum ($570,880) to
pay the expenses of its own department of awards, a
department over which the Directory had no jurisdiction
whatever.

What this cost the company's president during the
following months of enormous expenditure, when con-
struction bills for material and labor had to be met if
the work was to go on, can hardly be estimated. The
year from August, 1892, to August, 1893, was a time
of incredible strain for the man at the helm. The
writer vividly remembers a chance meeting with Mr.
Higinbotham in July, 1893. Although she had felt that
the attendance thus far was slight, she had not realized
the financial issue involved. One glance at the familiar
face, however, informed her of the danger; gave her an
emotion of anxiety which she will never forget. The
face, usually smiling and even tender with friends, was

24

white and stem and drawn; incredibly strong and firm,
but cold and hard ; the face of a ship captain through a
tornado, of a general when the battle seems going
wrong; recording a moment when individual emotion
was swallowed up in the tragic passion of leadership
through imminent disaster.

Fortunately this long and ever increasing strain
began to diminish soon after. In August the gate
receipts began to creep up, so that the bondholders
became less clamorous and the Board of Directors less
apprehensive; and the phenomenal "Chicago Day"
attendance of October ninth — the twenty-second anni-
versary of the Fire which a young employe had fought
for Field, Leiter 8b Co. — a day when 761,942 persons
went through the turn-stiles, enabled the Treasurer of
the Exposition to pay the bondholders in full.

But finances were only one detail, though of course
the most important, the most fundamental, to the
responsible Company and its president. Other issues
involved brought less anxiety and more joy, introducing
an infinite variety of experience and motive into the
life of a middle-western American merchant. Of these
were the president's relations with the board of archi-
tects, those distinguished artists from far and near
who designed and built the Fair. In this connection
may be mentioned his life-long loyalty to the memory
of John Wellborn Root, the first consulting architect,
who made the ground plan of the Fair, admittedly a
master-piece of great-festival design, but suddenly died
— in January, 1891 — before he could lead in carrying
it out. Mr. Higinbotham, to the end of his life, loyally

25

insisted on ascribing the beauty of the Fair chiefly to
the genius of this man, contending always against rival
claims and the forgetfulness of time.

The aesthetic and picturesque aspects of the Fair build-
ing included also personal relations — ^which often, to a
warm-hearted man like Mr. Higinbotham, became
friendships — with painters, sculptors, musicians, even
poets; with foreign Commissioners, government and
state officials; with eager concessionaires from far and
near; indeed with all the various types of human self-
interest and idealistic enthusiasm which a vast festival
gathers together. In each case the president, in his
council of four, must hold the even scales of justice,
settling all disputes aesthetic or temporal, and getting
or giving a reasonable price for what was granted or
secured.

Many of these disputes were little less than agonies to
the persons involved, and in these cases Mr. Higin-
botham's quick sympathies became deeply engaged, and
he spent over them many hours which should have been
given to sleep. One such incident may be briefly
dwelt upon, not because it was more important than
others, but because it was typical of countless minor
disputes which went for final settlement to the Council
of Administration, and because the writer, as the author
of the poem involved, happens to know about it.

This was the "Columbian Ode" episode — a story
which Mr. Higinbotham delighted to tell to the end
of his life. This poem had been imanimously requested
of the author by the Committee on Ceremonies and
definitely accepted by that body for the great day of the

25

Dedication of Buildings — the four -hundredth anni-
versary of the Discovery of America. But a small
group in the committee suddenly ceased to favor the
poem, and set up a violent opposition in the effort to
have it annulled as a feature of the Dedication Day
program. The dispute became so bitter that a peaceful
decision in the Committee became impossible, and the
matter was referred to the Council of Administration
for settlement.

This was in mid-September, 1892 — the Dedication
of Buildings was only a month away. The writer, who
had just returned from a summer outing, was summoned
to present her side of the question at an evening session
of the Council of Administration. At this time she
had never met Mr. Higinbotham, who took the chair
soon after her arrival — a simple, quiet man in the prime
of life, of slight figure, fine shapely head, regular features
rather delicate in contour, and dark wavy hair and
beard streaked with a few threads of gray. Near him
were two other members of the Council of Administra-
tion.

It was strictly a business session, and the writer was
interested to observe how simply and easily various
widely differing details were disposed of, either directly
or by reference to individuals or committees; details of
the roofing contract, the power plants, the sewerage
system; applications from would-be concessionaires;
and Dedication Day arrangements — program-printing,
livery charges, the military procession, plans for trans-
porting and seating the vast throng of over an hundred
thousand persons who were being invited to assemble

27

under the lofty glazed and vaulted roof of the Manu-
facturers' Building, to celebrate the quadri-centennial
anniversary of one of the supreme events in the history
of the world. And one of these details was the dispute,
inherited from the Committee on Ceremonies, about
the "Columbian Ode" — whether or not a portion of it
should be read and sung before the great audience on
the great day.

The opponents presented their case; they were not
satisfied with either the author, who should have been
a poet of distinction like the aged Whittier, or the ode
itself, which was too long for the occasion, and which
contained, moreover, a sixty-line tribute to a deceased
relative of the author — a tribute which she had declined
to omit.

The writer met these objections as well as she could,
pointing out especially that the tribute in question —
to the Fair's first architect-in-chief — was due to his
memory on this great day, especially as it was only
three lines and a half long instead of the sixty-four
complained of.

Mr. Higinbotham asked the writer to read the
questioned tribute, and then remarked: ''It's hardly
enough to say of the great architect who planned the
Fair, whose death at his post during that first year was
the heaviest blow it could possibly have received. A
poem for this dedication which did not refer to him
would be gravely defective, in my opinion."

Mr. Higinbotham used to say afterwards: "Her
poem had been asked for, approved by experts and
accepted by the Committee on Ceremonies, and I made

28

up my mind that as much of it should be read as we
had time for in the program, including the tribute to
John Root." And it was so ordered.

At last the long anticipated anniversary arrived.
It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty of the late
October day, the dramatic splendor of the festival, or
the ardent spirit of that vivid audience, whose gay
colors fluttered into rainbow brilliancy as the sun
struck down through the glass roof. Mr. Higinbotham
wrote in his report:

**The scene in the Manufacturers' Building will never
be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The grand
platform was occupied by officers of the national govern-
ment, members of the diplomatic corps, officers of the
various States, senators and representatives, directors
and commissioners. The eye and brain could scarcely
comprehend the vastness of the audience stretching
out before this platform. There was little motion, but
the air was resonant with an indescribable hum of
voices. At the south end of the building the chorus of
five thousand persons seemed but a mere island in an
ocean of humanity."

Mr. Higinbotham's share of the program was a quiet
speech in which he accepted the completed grounds and
buildings from Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works,
saluted **the master artists of construction" whom the
Director had presented, and offered to him for distri-
bution the medals which had been struck off by the
Directory for presentation to the artists of the Fair.
Everyone noted the simple dignity of his bearing
and speech on this conspicuous occasion.

29

I have already referred to the anxieties of the Fair's
president during the nine months which followed the
Dedication. The reward for his long labor came during
the last three months of the gorgeous festival, when he
could enjoy the beauty and share the gay spirit of that
ephemeral White City which he had done so much to
create. For, though there have been world's fairs
before and since the Columbian, no other has rivalled
it in delicate Venetian magic. No other has attempted
its inter-weaving of water-ways among buildings and
colonnades, whose shining day-time beauty turned to
glory at night, when the long rows of lights trailed their
golden fringes in the wide lagoons. Mr. Higinbotham
delighted in the joy of the people as the festive spirit
of the crowd rose and gathered force during those last
months of the gala season.

The most important social event of the Exposition
season was the banquet given by the Board of Directors
on October eleventh to the Commissioners of foreign
nations. The great Music Hall on the grounds was
transformed into a brilliantly lit bower of ferns, palms
and flowers for this occasion, fitly adorned with the
flags of the forty-eight nations and the yellow and
white banners of the Exposition. Mr. Higinbotham, as
presiding officer, opened the exchange of compliments
with a brief salutation, and the program closed with his
address on "The Future Influence of the Exposition,"
of which a few sentences may be quoted :

"The impress of our work will be so delicately and
interceptibly woven into the fabric of the future that
it will have a finer and more beautiful texture. It will

30

sink deep into the minds of the learned and unlearned
alike. It will stimulate the youth of this and later
generations to greater and more heroic effort. It will
give to the wheels of commerce a new impetus; thereby
bring the people of the earth into more intimate and,
I trust, happier relations.

**Let us hope that future generations will look back
to this place with reverence, satisfaction and pride, as
the spot where was laid the deep foundation of a monu-
ment that should mark the dawn of a new era, empha-
sizing the benign influence of the gospel of peace, the
fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man. Let
us indulge the fond hope that its influence will increase
until it encircles the globe and encompasses the race.

"I have long sought for some consolation to justify
the imminent destruction of our beautiful city, and I
can find only this thought as comforting:

''Whenever a people have gained distinction by the
creation of some specially meritorious work, have de-
clared it finished, and then rested to contemplate its
grandeur and magnificence, feeling that there was
nothing greater for them to do, they have fallen into
a condition of decay, and from that time become effemi-
nate. It is better, therefore, for us to efface our work,
and cease to delude ourselves with the thought that
there is nothing for us, and those that come after us,
to do. Let us rather hope that what we have done
will live, as a stepping-stone to grander and more
heroic efforts, compensated with richer and rarer fruits.
Let us not take to ourselves the credit, and seek to
magnify unduly our creation; if it has merit and excel-

31

lence it will speak for and defend itself. Let us rather
rejoice in the thought that what has been done is the
culmination of a period in the progress of the world;
that especially it declares and emphasizes the wisdom
of our fathers in the creation of a government founded
on the broad and enduring principles of human liberty.

* 'These buildings will disappear and mingle with our
dust, but their glory will ever live, and continue to
mark an era in the progress of civilization long after
their creators have been forgotten.

"There is a sense in which the material side of our
work seems insignificant; compared to the kindly feeling
that has been augmented by the gathering of represen-
tatives of the nations of the earth it is of slight import-
ance. The culmination of these close" relations of the
heart will have more lasting benefit, will permeate more
peoples, enduring through all time, and growing brighter
and brighter unto the perfect day."

In every detail of his connection with the national
festival, Mr. Higinbotham was an effective presiding
officer. While making no pretense of oratory in ad-
dressing an audience, his personal distinction of manner
and the quiet earnestness of his voice added to the force
and beauty of a diction concise and vivid. In closer
contacts he never lost his patience, yet never retreated
from a just decision. In the personal intimacies which
developed with all kinds of people, he was unfailingly
sympathetic and generous ; and when these ripened into
friendship, his warm-hearted loyalty became a precious
possession in his own spirit and in those it honored.

32

On May first, 1895, the Board of Directors presented
a silver vase as a testimonial to their president, his work
now almost over. Their spokesman, Edwin Walker, in
the course of his address, said:

"I am commissioned by all who are or have been
Directors to make, in their name, public recognition of
the invaluable services of our President, Harlow N.
Higinbotham. We all recognize his incessant labor, his
zeal and loyalty, from the first organization of the
Board, but more especially from the date of his official
relations until the present time. He is still our Presi-
dent.

* 'Possibly in some respects I have more intimate
knowledge of the magnitude of his labors than other
members of the Board, on account of the close relations
of our official positions; but we all know that during
the lifetime of the Exposition proper the cares and
responsibilities of his office were almost beyond human
endurance. He brought to the work all his mental and
physical strength, his integrity of character, and all the
elements of a generous manhood. His work did not
close with the Exposition. He was charged with the
settlement and adjustment of a large proportion of the
varied claims made against the Exposition. These
labors have been especially annoying and perplexing.

"But the end of all his and our special work is rapidly
approaching. Within a reasonable time we shall be
able, as a corporation, to surrender back to the people
the trust confided to us, with the hope that all the people
will give us the credit of having assumed and honestly
discharged a public duty and great public trust.

33

"And now, President Higinbotham, in behalf of your
friends of the Directory, I present this testimonial. I
repeat the inscription engraved thereon as the better
expression of the earnest appreciation by your friends,
of your unswerving fidelity to official duty:

*' *By this testimonial, the Directors record their
thorough appreciation of the untiring labors, and un-
selfish, devotion to official duty, of their President,
Harlow N. Higinbotham — a souvenir of pleasant asso-
ciations, abiding friendships, and of the inspiration,
administration, and glorious ending of the World's
Columbian Exposition of 1893.' "

In closing this chapter of his life we must, for the
moment, pass over a quarter-century to that May-day
of 1918 when Daniel Chester French's statue of the
Republic was dedicated in Jackson Park as a memorial
of the Exposition. To reproduce in bronze of heroic
size this figure, which had dominated the Court of
Honor in 1893, the last residue of Exposition funds was
used, Mr. Higinbotham having successfully resisted
numerous efforts to spend the money less fitly. All the
members of the old Board of Directors who were alive
and in Chicago surrounded its president as his little
grand-daughters, Florence Crane and Priscilla Higin-
botham, unveiled the monument, and portions of the
"Columbian Ode" were read by its author.

Mr. Higinbotham made the following address, which
happened to be his last public utterance:

"It is my pleasure to deliver into the care and keeping
of the South Park Commissioners this statue. It has
been created as a memorial of the Exposition held here

34

a quarter of a century ago to celebrate the Four-hun-
dredth Anniversary of the Discovery of America by
Columbus. The Discovery and the celebration four
hundred years later, in which the peoples of the earth
so generously united, are landmarks, milestones, on the
highway of civilization.

**This statue is intended to commemorate both events,
and is in such form as to do them the highest honor.
It is made of purest metal. It is of heroic size, thus
indicating that the events it commemorates were
notable. It is in the image of a woman, typifying
purity, strength, motherhood. Thus it suggests those
qualities that in all the ages have commanded love and
respect.

**I cannot allow this last opportunity to speak of the
World's Columbian Exposition to pass without paying
tribute to its high purpose, its beauty and beneficent
influence. It sprang into being under circumstances and
conditions that made it akin to a miracle. A new city
in a far country was responsible for its conception,
creation, and administration. Its magnificence caused
the world to wonder and almost worship. Its Court of
Honor will be remembered as worthy of a place beside
the most beautiful creations of man. It won the smile
of the world and had the blessing and benediction of the
Divine. Its author did not live to witness its grandeur.
The 'Columbian Ode' said of him:

'Beauty opened wide her starry way,
And he passed on.'

"The unanimity with which the Nations of the Earth
united in the celebration is an indication of the value

35

that the Discovery of the New World was to mankind
in its onward march."

Soon after the close of the Exposition Mr. Higin-
botham returned to active business. Unfortunately
that part of his life is less a matter of public record,
and in its history the present writer is wholly unin-
formed and incompetent. She once read an article by
Mr. Higinbotham, intended for young would-be mer-
chants, which set forth so clearly the qualities of mind
and temperament required for such a career, and de-
scribed many typical incidents so picturesquely, as to
convince her that its author should use his literary
gift to tell the whole dramatic story of the growth of
the great business which engaged him for nearly forty
years — ^from its small local beginning with Field, Palmer
& Leiter in 1865, to the enormous world-wide commerce
of Marshall Field 85 Co. from which he retired in 1902.
Such a story would be, in effect, a commercial history
of the great formative period of the nation, and its
value can hardly be estimated.

Mr. Higinbotham's public activities did not cease
with the World's Fair. After its close, the Field
Columbian Museum of Natural History was organized,
and he served for seventeen years as its president.
For its occupancy the authorities reserved, during a
quarter-century, the beautiful Fine Arts Building of
the Exposition, from which it removed, in 1920, to the
permanent structure south of Grant Park. To this
museum its president contributed not only seventeen
years of devoted service, but also the collection of
precious stones made by Tiffany & Co. for the Exposi-

36

tion, which was installed as the Gem Collection in
Higinbotham Hall.

Indeed, during the last twenty-five years of Mr.
Higinbotham's life, most of his leisure was devoted
to the people of Chicago, especially the poor and suffer-
ing. In 1897 President McKinley offered to appoint
him Ambassador to France, but excessive modesty, and
love of his own place, caused him to decline. When the
city proposed to spend thirty-five million dollars for a
new drainage district, and the project was in danger
of capture by incompetent politicians, he was active in
organizing a non-partisan opposition, and accepted
membership in a nominating committee which presented
to the voters an able and incorruptible group of six
candidates. Then, as chairman of the Finance Com-
mittee, he personally collected thirty thousand dollars
for campaign expenses, and conducted a whirlwind
campaign of only thirty days which resulted in the
election of the entire independent ticket. Thus the
city was assured not only proper economy, but such
professional competence in the construction of the
Drainage Canal as should insure the future health of its
citizens. This was but one instance of his many in-
conspicuous but valuable public services.

Besides countless private philanthropies, certain chari-
table institutions deeply engaged his interest. For
many years he was president of Hahnemann Hospital
and of the Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Association; and
he organized, and was the first president of the Munic-
ipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium, located on a tract of

zi

one hundred and sixty acres in the northwestern part
of the city.

But the Home for Incurables was his best beloved
philanthropy — if one can call by that name a veritable
child of his spirit which engaged his love and devotion
for nearly forty years. When he was first importuned,
in 1880, to become a member of the board of such an
institution, which had then gone no further than to take
out incorp)oration papers, he felt that he could not
consent, in justice to other charitable institutions with
which he was connected, not to speak of the arduous
and exacting duties of his private business.

However, he was persuaded, and duly elected, made
chairman of a finance committee, and soon succeeded
to the presidency, which he held until his death. Within
a few days he had raised thirteen thousand dollars and
rented a vacant house at Fullerton and Racine Avenues.
This first Home ran along with some difficulty until
1887, when under the will of Mrs. Clarissa C. Peck, an
eastern woman, it fell heir to over six hundred thousand
dollars. Mr. Higinbotham became president of the
nine trustees under this will, and at once property was
purchased and buildings erected at Ellis Avenue and
Fifty-sixth Street, the present location. The property
has been increased by numerous bequests — notably six
hundred thousand dollars from Otto Young and a
quarter of a million each from Albert Keep and Daniel
B. Shipman — until its value is now nearly two million
dollars.

A little while before Mr. Higinbotham's death he
said: "Since the Chicago Home for Incurables was

38

opened in 1890, it has had but one superintendent, Mr.
Frank D. Mitchell; one matron, Miss Hattie I. Miller;
one physician. Dr. W. P. Goodsmith; and one president.
And they are all still on duty."

Miss Eleanor Quin, secretary to Mr. Higinbotham
for the past ten years, is still assisting; without these
people, whose love and devotion has been unfailing, the
work could not have been carried on successfully.

It is difficult to follow without emotion the story of
Mr. Higinbotham's devotion to the Home. From the
time of his retirement from business in 1902, it became,
after his family, the chief interest of his mind and
heart, with which nothing was allowed to interfere.
When in town he made daily visits, always becoming
personally acquainted with — ^indeed, the friend of —
each inmate, and cheering them all on with unfailing
sympathy and humor. The coldness of many institu-
tional "charities" was never allowed to enter here, and
the love which rewarded him in life, and mourned his
death, was pathetic in its fervor.

When the death of other early benefactors had made
him the sole survivor, he presented to the Home, as a
memorial to those who had been associated with him
in its establishment, a bronze tablet bearing the follow-
ing inscription:

A. D. 1909

"This tablet is placed in loving memory of those good
and faithful women and men who gave unselfishly of
themselves, and generously of their means, for the
establishment of this Home. Their names are not
recorded here. Yonder in the Infinite they are written

39

on pages more glorious and far more enduring. This
tablet is the gift and the tribute of one who knew them
well and loved them fondly.

"May patience and peace and plenty ever abide
within its walls.

"May those who suffer and those who serve, those
who sing and those who pray, as well as those who,
unable to do more, stand by and cheer, be equally
blessed.

"May this great city, and all the agencies here em-
ployed to heal the sick, alleviate suffering and advance
the interest of humanity, be prospered always."

Among the many incidents which portray the tender-
ness of his nature was one relating to a poor woman in
the Cook County Hospital, who, when told that Mr.
Higinbotham had come to see her, said: "Is this really
Mr. Higinbotham!" Bursting into tears, she drew from
beneath her pillow his picture, cut from a newspaper
which she had carried many years, as a help to make her
patient in suffering, as an inspiration to be gentle and
kind. Many other stories of his kindness to those in
sickness and distress might be told; particularly details
of his daily visits to the Home for Incurables.

A few other incidents may be mentioned to illustrate
further Mr. Higinbotham's keen sjnupathies and his
untiring activity in obeying their commands. The case
of Leo Frank, whose conviction he felt to be unjust,
interested him so deeply that, unsolicited, he went to
Atlanta to intercede with the Governor and the Com-
mission for his life. His efforts were successful, as the
sentence was commuted and Frank was removed to

40

another city ; but the lynching of the prisoner soon after
prevented further action in his favor.

Many men now prominent in affairs tell with what
kindly sympathy and affection Mr. Higinbotham aided
them in youth. Among these, one who early entered
the credit department of Marshall Field & Co. says:
"I never knew a man so sympathetic with boys; he
never tired of helping young men to get a start in life,
and no one could show more tact, perseverance and
energy in their service."

A friend tells a story of one of the walking-trips which
were Mr. Higinbotham's favorite athletic diversion; for
three times — ^in 1862, 1886 and 1897 — he tramped over
the mountains of West Virginia, a distance of one
hundred and sixty -five miles, either alone or in company;
this besides many shorter mountain tramps. The
story illustrates not only his love of boys, but his de-
termination to overcome all obstacles.

"Two young employes at Field's planned to
take a walking-trip, and asked for the necessary vaca-
tion. Mr. Higinbotham was enthusiastic, and said that
if they wouldn't mind his company he would make it
possible for them to take quite a long tramp through
the mountains of West Virginia. They were delight-
ed— no one could have been a more agreeable companion.
This was the second or third tramp he had made
through this region, whose wild scenic beauty he had
learned to love while he was stationed at Clarksburg,
West Virginia, during the Civil War, when he was
obliged to explore the region on horseback.

41

"He took the phrase 'walking-trip' very seriously, and
would not accept any invitation to ride an inch. At
one place, for example, where we had to cross an un-
fordable stream, he refused to ferry over, and ordered
a local carpenter to make a pair of stilts on which he
stumbled and splashed, and fell down and got up, and
tumbled again, finally arriving, drenched but tri-
umphant, on the opposite bank."

An incident of another walking-trip began at the
grave of General Pettigrew, who had been fatally
wounded while in command of the rear guard of Lee's
army on its retreat from Gettysburg. It was in 1897,
in North Carolina, that Mr. Higinbotham found a
moss-green grave-stone, which told how General Petti-
grew had died at the house of a man named Boyd, near
Martinsburg, West Virginia. As it was in Martinsburg
that Mr. Higinbotham, while a young Union officer,
had been stationed during 1864, and as he had there
"received many courtesies from the people of the South
both during and after the war," he was much interested.
But it was not until 1918 that he could learn anything
about the General's family. A few letters then passed
between him and Miss Mary Johnstone Pettigrew of
Tryon, North Carolina, in one of which he says :

**You mention the mysterious way in which peoples'
lives cross or touch, and inform me that the General's
great-great-grandmother was Rachel Higinbotham. You
will, I am sure, feel that truth is stranger than fiction
when I tell you that my wife's name was also Rachel
Higinbotham."

42

And he tells of a quite recent trip on the James
River, during which he had met, at Hampton, a cousin
of Robert E. Lee who had known the Boyd family, in
whose house General Pettigrew died.

He always emphasized the necessity of human sym-
pathy and service, and we have plenty of testimony
showing the quick response of his big heart to appeals
public and private. A poet once wrote to him, after he
had held out his hand at a crisis :

"Who cares for the burden, the night and the rain,

And the long steep lonesome road,
When at last through the darkness a light shines plain,
When a voice calls hail, and a friend draws rein

With an arm for the heavy load!

"For life is the chance of a friend or two

This side the journey's goal.
Though the world be a desert the long night through,
Yet the gay flowers bloom and the sky grows blue

When a soul salutes a soul."

In religious matters he was extremely liberal, feeling
that "It is what we do, yesterday, today, and tomorrow,
more than what we believe, that will be important in
the final round-up." In June, 1893, he said, in his
address of welcome at the opening of the World's First
Parliament of Religions :

"The meeting of so many illustrious and learned men
under such circumstances evidences the kindly spirit
and feeling that exists throughout the world. To me
this is the proudest work of our Exposition. Whatever
may be the differences in the religions you represent,

43

there is a sense in which we are all alike. There is a
common plane on which we are all brothers. We owe
our being to conditions that are exactly the same.
Our journey through this world is by the same route.
We have in common the same senses, hopes, ambitions,
joys and sorrows; and these to my mind argue strongly
and almost conclusively a common destiny.

**To me there is much satisfaction and pleasure in the
fact that we are brought face to face with men who
come to us bearing the ripest wisdom of the ages. They
come in the friendliest spirit, which, I trust, will be
augmented by their intercourse with us and with each
other. I am hoping, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen,
that your Parliament will prove to be a golden milestone
on the highway of civilization — a golden stairway lead-
ing up to the tableland of a higher, grander and more
perfect condition, where peace will reign and the enginery
of war be known no more forever."

This hope of a better era is referred to again in the
address to the Japanese commissioners quoted above.
On that occasion — in 1909 — ^he said:

"I am hoping that future expositions will leave out
the machinery of war. I know that we had a warship
and the Krupp gun at our own, but I am older now,
and I have a higher appreciation of the implements of
peace, and an intense dislike, amounting to hatred, of
war and all its trappings.

"Let us all hope that this twentieth century will
witness the dawn of a new era, that it will go down in
history as the age of peace, the age when a common
desire seemed to take possession of humanity every-

44

where to share with all others the blessings they en-
joyed. Thus would be augmented the great sum of
human happiness.

"The nations of the earth should unite in a movement
to maintain a universal court whose duty it will be to
determine and adjust all national differences. I would
have, representing this court on the high seas, one navy
and only one, whose duty it would be to police the seas,
prevent possible piracy or improper or illegal commerce,
and assist the merchant marine in time of disaster or
distress. The money thus saved would go far towards
the care of the sick and unfortunate the world over,
and would add to the peace and prosperity of the people
everywhere, far beyond the power of the human mind
to conceive or calculate."

To such feeling as this, developed and cherished
through a long life, the world catastrophe of 1914 was
a cruel strain ; and for over two years Mr. Higinbotham
hoped that his own country might keep out of the
struggle. Nevertheless, both before and after the
United States declared war, he did what he could to
alleviate distress in the suffering nations and to en-
courage heroic spirit in our own.

The Armistice brought to him, as to all the world,
deep relief after the long and bitter strain. It was good
that he lived to see the collapse of the anachronistic
military autocracy which had caused the war, and to
return, in spite of this cataclysm, to his firm belief that
the days of war are numbered.

The fatal accident of April eighteenth, 1919, in New
York, closed his life while he was still scarcely conscious

45

of old age, and in full possession of vigor of body, mind,
and spirit. To the last he was thinking of others — ^he
was on his way to greet returning soldiers of Illinois
when he was stricken down by a government ambulance.

One is tempted to apply to him a few sentences he
once wrote for a friend who had died :

"He discovered to me a nature rich in every higher
attribute, and his communication was so charming in
diction, and so sweetly simple in its mood, that I was
deeply moved by his conversation. I was impressed
by his love for humanity, his patriotism, and the pride
he felt in his profession. He was a pure type of the
old-school gentlemen. His was the habit and mien of
the scholar. His character has stamped itself upon
many people, and his example will influence the genera-
tions; as his perfect life has blessed the community in
which he lived, and benefited those who knew him.

**It is well with our friend. He sleeps the slumber of
peace. The night wrapped his body in death, but his
soul saw the dawn of life."

46

APPENDIX

APPEISIDIX A.
LINCOLN IN 1864

The following article, suggested by the controversy over
Mr. Barnard's statue of Lincoln, was written for the New York
Sun, and published in that paper during the summer of 1917:

1 am impelled by your full-page illustrated article on Lincoln,
and the artist's representation of him to be given to a nation
that believed in and sympathized with him and that desires to
honor him and perpetuate his memory, to give you and the
public my views:

I was born in Illinois in 1838 and have always been a resident
of that State. I knew Lincoln, not intimately, but well. I saw,
and heard him speak frequently during the years next preceding
the Civil War. I knew him before he was a candidate for the
presidency, and best during the contest between him and
Douglas for the senatorship. It is, I think, well understood
that the contest between these two great men was the stepping-
stone to the presidency for Lincoln, and gave him to the nation
and the world as one of its foremost noble and heroic characters.
I knew him later as president, and I am the only person living
who was present on the occasion of the first meeting between
Lincoln and General U. S. Grant. This meeting took place in
the White House on the evening of the eighth of March, 1864,
when General Grant came to Washington, escorted by Congress-

49

man E. B. Washburn, to receive his commission as Lieutenant-
General of the Army. Those present on that occasion, all
from Illinois, were Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, General Grant, Hon.
E. B. Washburne, Mr. and Mrs. B. F. James, and myself.

In Harper's Weekly published at that time is a full-page
illustration of the presentation of the commission by President
Lincoln, in the presence of the members of the cabinet, on the
day following the first meeting. The presentation took place
at the Capitol. It may not be generally known, but General
Grant was the first to enjoy the full rank of Lieutenant- General
after Washington; General Winfield Sott having received it
by brevet. I was engaged in the Quartermaster's Department
at this time and was on duty in Knoxville, Tenn., and had
been sent to Washington to confer with the Quartermaster
General, M. C. Meigs. This visit gave me opportunity to see
Lincoln under conditions vastly different from those when I
had seen him in Illinois. He was, however, the same Lincoln
that I had known. If there was a change, it was that he
seemed shrunken in stature. He was, however, both in manner
and dress, quite in keeping with his exalted station. He was
at ease and well poised; nothing in his manner, dress or speech
even suggested awkwardness. He had indelibly stamped on
his features more than a suggestion of nobility. There were
clearly outlined and defined those characteristics that made
him famous; that made him the Saviour of his Country and
the liberator of a race from bondage. It seems to me, that any
representation of Lincoln should, at least, aim to show him as
teeming with and, in fact, overflowing with those qualities and
characteristics that he was known to possess. On the contrary,
the artist has gone far back to his early life, and has sought to
represent him even worse than he could have been under the
most adverse circumstances. The statue is what the artist
seemingly intended it to be — a splendid, a magnificent mis-
representation of Abraham Lincoln as he was in the later years
of his life, for it reverts to what he conceived him to have been
back in Kentucky before he had found himself. As evidence

50

of this, it is stated that the sculptor went to Kentucky and
found a man who was, and always had been, a rail-splitter and
nothing else; and he gives it as Lincoln. Those of us who
knew him cannot accept such a substitute.

H. N. HIGINBOTHAM.

51

APPENDIX B
THE POWER OF PERSONALITY

At the Commencement exercises of Lombard College, June
fifth, 1901, Mr. Higinbotham delivered a eulogy in memory
of the Rev. Dr. Otis A. Skinner, whom he called "my exemplar/*
"my ideal of a grand and noble manhood," "the most splendid
and attractive man I have ever beheld."

As this address expresses intimately its author's philosophy
of life and death, we append the following extracts:

We have been told by a world-famous student and philosopher
that self-sacrifice is the surest means of securing happiness and
repose, that life is only of value through devotion to what is
true and good. But in turning aside at this hour from other
claims upon my time and attention to consider briefly the
power of personality in life, as exemplified in the career of a
good man, it is not so much the spirit of self-sacrifice as it is
the feeling of inadequacy that enters into my task. It is friend-
ship that interrogates me; it is frankness that will respond. It
is a pleasure to lay a wreath, however simple, upon the grave
of one to whose noble example and beneficent influence I am
largely indebted for any humane endeavor or philanthropic
spirit that has found expression in my life. . .

On Sunday afternoons it was his custom to go into the country
to preach, and on many of these occasions it was my privilege

53

to accompany him. He talked and thought a great deal about
the happiness of others. He always seemed to be looking for
a soul that he could cheer by loving and thoughtful words. He
knew that no man could live unto God except by living at the
same time unto his fellows. . . So this man's good works
follow him and will be reflected and multiplied in the lives of
others to the end of time. . .

It is wonderful how indestructibly the good grows and propa-
gates itself, even among weedy entanglements. Evil things
perish, but the good goes on forever. Music heard from
afar is all harmony; the discordant notes perish by the way and
never reach the ear of the listener. . .

If men are changed by events and environment, they are
changed much more, either for good or ill, by their fellow-men.
This is the alchemy of influence. We, all of us, are apt to
minimize our power or influence, arguing to ourselves that
what we may say or do is not noticed or observed, and is there-
fore of little moment or consequence. There was never a greater
error.

For every good deed of ours the world will be better always.
And perhaps on no day does a man walk the street cheerfully
without meeting some other person who is brightened by his
face, and who unconsciously to himself catches from that look
an ineffable something — an inspiration that gives him new
courage and saves him from a wrong action. Usefulness, after
all, is nobler than fame — so noble, indeed, that man should not
demand a higher reward for his labors under the sun than the
consciousness of having done his neighbor some form of service.

Every person who has lived in the past, who lives in the
present or may hereafter come into being, either has exerted or
will exert some influence for the good or ill of his fellows. Even In
inanimate nature this seems to be the law of existence. The
glacier, that had its beginning when the earth was new, carries
in its icy grasp objects which today tell the story of its course
as plainly as if by written or spoken word. The tree standing

54

by the wayside, barren of either flower or fruit and seemingly
useless, may have a beneficent office. Some tired and lonely
traveler, discouraged and disheartened, resting beneath its
shade, may be lured back to a life of usefulness and happiness
by the song of a bird in its branches. And so it is too in the
animal kingdom. The beasts of the field and the fowls of the
air in divers ways make their impress upon nature and upon all
life.

"When our souls shall leave this dwelling,
The glory of one fair and virtuous action
Is above all the 'scutcheons of our tomb."

55

APPENDIX C

THE MAN WHO DID ME A GOOD TURN

Written by Dr. Frank Crane

Is there any feeling quite like that with which you pick up
the Morning Paper?

You yourself, child of mystery, have just come from a brief
visit with Death, in the house of Sleep, and are upon the stoop
of another Day, and when you look at the Paper, it is as if
your hand lay upon the latch that opens the Door of another
Room in that great House of Adventure — Life.

What will you see? Kings fallen? New wonders of strange
lands? Another crime? What new shifting in the kaleidoscope
of Fate?

The other day I read that Harlow N. Higinbotham, some-
time President of the World's Columbian Exposition, man of
affairs, wealth, business, and philanthropy, had died. At
eighty-two years of age, still active and vigorous, he had fallen
beneath an automobile in the street.

This is not the story of his life. Others will write his biog-
raphy. They will tell of his plans, achievements, honors.

But certain men, to you, are types. They are symbols.
Whatever may be their order in the usual chronicle of the world,
to you they stand for a point of sentiment, a mark of an idea.

57

Harlow N. Higinbotham will always be to me the concrete
representative and ikon of

"The Man Who Did Me a Good Turn."

It matters not what it was all about, but once he, wealthy
and busy, stopped his work, left his office and walked with
me, little and unknown, down the street, to do me a favor, for
no reason except that he took a fancy to me.

That was more than twenty years ago. So he is gone now!
I wish I might drop a tear upon his folded hands; perhaps the
Recording Angel, checking up his account, might see it, and
think it was a pearl, and put it to his credit. So only can I
pay my debt.

Reading of his death has set me thinking. How many
persons there are who have done me a Good Turn! Just casual
people, I mean. All kinds. Let me recall. Alas, that my
memory for kindness is so poor!

I cannot understand those who say they owe no man any-
thing. My days are crowded with undeserved Good Turns.
I shall never pay my debts, if I live a thousand years.

There's the man who gave me a match, the girl who gave
me a smile, the farmer who gave me a ride, a cobbler in Munich
once mended my shoe and would take no money, a man made
way for me in a crowd to see the parade, a baby once smiled
at me and held out her arms — I would not forget these small
things, little sparkles in the life-stream.

And men have given me a chance, and some have stopped
to praise me, and I have seen the little flame in women's eyes
as they looked on me, and years ago George Armstrong and
Jo Holmes lent me money when I am sure they did not know
they would ever get it back.

There are others, appearing out of the stranger throng, that
have stood by me, defended my name, spoken out boldly and
called themselves my friends.

Of all these Harlow N. Higinbotham is the type, because my
acquaintance with him was but casual, because he had no

58

reason for his kindness except the human spark, because he
emerged from the multitude, did me his Good Turn, and receded
again into the mist.

Always his strong face, shrewd and understanding, will stand
out from among the sea of human faces in my memory, and
rebuke my dark moods, saying unto me that this world of men
and women is a good place, full of unexpected impulse, not a
vale of tears, but a place of Heart and Humanity.

So, Recording Angel, when the case of this man comes up on
the Day of Judgment, let me bear my testimony.

HARLOW N. HIGINBOTHAM

One of the workers of the world

Living toiled, and toiling died;
But others worked and the world went on.
And was not changed when he was gone.
A strong man stricken, a wide sail furled ;

And only a few men sighed.

Well, I am one of them.

59

IT

■•tvujaiv , -fte (u>'itU»%t> vm/* '^/Tk/ &^*iii

**o A(*M l^j>ui.i^ c^ 'Mm' ♦i*^ /h^ -&««/ y^ .'

(9kU/'>>14Mc/<IM'M/ a/44c<> /»VU ^M4<%4^i/ <>UL&V</ Immj^ ,

&'**' ^J3*w» iW/'-4t />va/t/ t\viti/ vajAjtAuJk/i tn/tf.

1

J

Facsimile of ms. page
Written by Eugene Field.

APPENDIX D

In a copy of "Echoes from the Sabine Farm," given to Mr.
Higinbotham by Eugene Field we find inscribed, on the fly
leaf, the following :

Dear Mr. Higinbotham: I am sending you this book for
several reasons. In the first place, I should like to have it
serve as a token of that sense of pleasure which, in common
with the rest of our townsmen, I feel to have you back in Chicago
after months of absence in foreign lands. Then, again, I am
glad to give you the book because I know that you will regard
it with the appreciative and jealous tenderness which every
author loves to see others bestow upon the creations of his
brain and pen. But above all I am hoping, dear sir, that you
will look upon this gift as a cordial expression (however modest)
of my feeling of indebtedness to you for the goodness you have
shown to me and to my friends for my sake.

(Signed) EUGENE FIELD.
Chicago, February, 1892.

And in Mr. Field's hand writing this little poem referring
to Mr. Higinbotham' s return from a three year's absence in
Europe.

Pompey, 'tis Fortune gives you back
To the friends and the gods who love you!

61

Once more you stand in your native land,
With the stars and stripes above you!

Come, just for once, let's celebrate
In the good old way and classic —

Our skins we'll nard with Fairbank's lard.
And soak our souls in Massic !

And when the bill for the same comes in,
I pray you'll be so partial

As to charge my share in the costly affair
To my prosperous cousin Marshall!

62

RALPH FLETCHER SEYMOUR
DESI» NER — PRINTER
FINE ARTS BLDG., CHICAGO

CT

mo